UNIT 1 INTRODUCTION OF KEY CONCEPTS

Lesson 1: Definitions of Various Forms of Literacies

Lesson 2: Features of the 21st Century Teaching and Learning

Lesson 3: Critical Attributes of the 21st Century Education

Lesson 4: Basic Strategies for Developing Literacy (Comprehension Strategies)

I. UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION OF KEY CONCEPTS

I. UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION OF KEY CONCEPTS
II. LESSON 2: FEATURES OF THE 21ST CENTURY TEACHING AND
LEARNING III. DURATION: 3 HOURS

IV. INTRODUCTION:
This lesson is designed to help future teachers to acquire and apply in their
upcoming profession the 21st century teaching and learning context. The 21 st century
teaching and learning emphasizes learning to learn together about the data filled world
and prepare student teachers to connect in a new world where challenges of
globalization, technology, migration, international rivalry, altering markets, and
transnational environmental and political contests add a new urgency to develop the
skills and knowledge students need for success in the 21st century setting.
With the challenges that the world are facing nowadays it is imperative for the
teachers and learners to be equipped with 21 st century teaching and learning skills, with
the onset of the 21st century, the whole world has witnessed an era of intense
transformation in all aspects, whether it is education, global trade and economy,
technology or society. Thus, the 21st Century Skills are the skills that are required by an
individual for holistic development so that he/she can contribute to the progress and
development of the society.

For students to learn 21st-century skills, educators will have to teach them in a
rationalized approach as the most effective way to teach 21st-century skills. This lesson
summarizes the nine science of learning telling how students learn the skills and how
pedagogy can address their 21st century needs.

V. OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this lesson, students are expected to:
1. Enumerate the science of learning in the 21 st century teaching and
learning context;
2. Discuss the conduct of teaching 21st century skills; and
3. Create learning experiences and activities that address the 21st Century
Skills of problem solving and creative thinking.
VI. LESSON PROPER:
ACTIVITY: Worksheet 1.2A (Refer to Google Classroom)
Our activity is called ORGANIZING THOUGHTS.
In 21st century teaching and learning, write your idea on how to become effective
teacher in delivering the lessons; and as student in learning the lessons effectively.

Write your answer here:

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT:
Given the lesson key words on the first column write your own description and
check using internet or dictionary:

Lesson key words Your own Internet/Dictiona

description ry meaning

21st century skills

Teaching
 Learning

Lower Order Thinking Skills

Higher Order Thinking Skills

Relevant

Transfer of learning

Technology

Creativity

Attention

ANALYSIS:

The 21st century skills are more challenging to teach and learn and they are also
more difficult to assess. Designing tests that measure lower-order thinking skills like
memorization is straightforward in comparison to measuring skills like creativity,
innovation, leadership, and teamwork.

HOW DO YOU SEE THE TEACHING AND LEARNING TODAY?

 ABSTRACTION:

This illustration helps you understand our lesson:

Foster learning
students’
Make it
creativity
relevant

Make full
use of
technology Teach
to support through the
disciplines
Promote Simultaneously develop lower and higher order
teamwork as a process and
Century Teaching and Learning thinking skills
outcome Context
Science of Learning in the 21st

Address
misunderst
The Science of Learning
andings Encourage
directly transfer of
learning
Teach
students to
learn how
to learn

The science of learning can be extracted into nine points, all of which are about
how students learn 21st century skills and how pedagogy can address new learning
needs. Many of the lessons particularly transfer, metacognition, teamwork, technology,
and creativity are also 21st century skills in themselves. Use them as points of advice
that other education systems can apply.

1. Make it relevant

Relevant learning means effective learning, and that alone should be enough to get
us rethinking our lesson plans. The old drill and kill method is neurologically useless, as
it turns out. Relevant, meaningful activities that both engage students emotionally and
connect with what they already know are what help build neural connections and long
term memory storage.
Relevance could be established through showing how theory can be applied in
practice, establishing relevance to local cases, relating material to everyday applications,
or finding applications in current newsworthy issues.

To be effective, any curriculum must be relevant to students’ lives. Transmission

and rote memorization of factual knowledge can make any subject matter seem
irrelevant. Irrelevance leads to lack of motivation, which in turn leads to decreased
learning.

To make curriculum relevant, teachers need to begin with generative topics, ones
that have an important place in the disciplinary or interdisciplinary study at hand and
resonate with learners and teachers.

Both teachers and students benefit from the use of generative topics and
reinforcement of relevance. Teachers like this method because it allows for the freedom
to teach creatively. Students like it because it makes learning feel more interesting and
engaging, and they find that understanding is something they can use, rather than
simply possess.

2. Teach through the disciplines

Learning through disciplines entails learning not only the knowledge of the
discipline but also the skills associated with the production of knowledge within the
discipline. Through disciplinary curriculum and instruction students should learn why the
discipline is important, how experts create new knowledge, and how they communicate
about it. Continued learning in any discipline requires that the student or expert become
deeply familiar with a knowledge base, know how to use that knowledge base, articulate
a problem, creatively address the problem, and communicate findings in sophisticated
ways. Therefore, mastering a discipline means using many 21st century skills.

3. Simultaneously develop lower and higher order thinking skills

Lower-order exercises are fairly common in existing curricula, while higher-order

thinking activities are much less common. Higher-level thinking tends to be difficult for
students because it requires them not only to understand the relationship between
different variables (lower-order thinking) but also how to apply or transfer that
understanding to a new, uncharted context (higher-order thinking).

Transfer tends to be very difficult for most people. However, applying new
understandings to a new, uncharted context is also exactly what students need to do to
successfully negotiate the demands of the 21st century.

Higher-level thinking skills take time to develop, and teaching them generally
requires a tradeoff of breadth for depth.
 What are Higher Order Thinking Skills?

Bloom’s taxonomy revised. (From Anderson, L. W. & Krathwohl, D.R., et al

(2001). 4. Encourage transfer of learning

Students must apply the skills and knowledge they gain in one discipline to
another. They must also apply what they learn in school to other areas of their lives.
This application or transfer can be challenging for students and for adults as well.

There are a number of specific ways that teachers can encourage low and high
road transfer. To encourage low-road transfer, teachers can use methods like the
following:

• Design learning experiences that are similar to situations where the students might
need to apply the knowledge and skills
• Set expectations, by telling students that they will need to structure their historical
argument homework essay in the same way that they are practicing in class • Ask
students to practice debating a topic privately in pairs before holding a large scale
debate in front of the class
• Organize mock trials, mock congressional deliberations, or other role-playing
exercises as a way for students to practice civic engagement
• Talk through solving a particular mathematics problem so that students understand
the thinking process they might apply to a similar problem
• Practice finding and using historical evidence from a primary source and then ask
 students to do the same with a different primary source

The purpose of each of these activities is to develop students’ familiarity and

comfort with a learning situation that is very similar to a new learning situation to which
they will need to transfer their skills, concepts, etc.

Teachers can use other methods to encourage high-road transfer. For example,
teachers can ask students to:

• brainstorm about ways in which they might apply a particular skill, attitude, concept,
etc. to another situation
• generalize broad principles from a specific piece of information, such as a law of
science or a political action
• make analogies between a topic and something different, like between ecosystems
and financial markets
• study the same problem at home and at school, to practice drawing parallels
between contextual similarities and differences

Some education experts believe that training students to transfer their knowledge
and skills to real problems contributed to their success. The importance of transfer
brings us back to the fundamental rationale for learning 21st century skills in the first
place so that students can transfer them to the economic, civic and global 21st century
contexts that demand them.
5. Teach students to learn how to learn

Learning to learn is the ability to pursue and persist in learning, to organize one's
own learning, including through effective management of time and information, both
individually and in groups. This competence includes awareness of one's learning
process and needs, identifying available opportunities, and the ability to overcome
obstacles in order to learn successfully. This competence means gaining, processing
and assimilating new knowledge and skills as well as seeking and making use of
guidance. Learning to learn engages learners to build on prior learning and life
experiences in order to use and apply knowledge and skills in a variety of contexts: at
home, at work, in education and training. Motivation and confidence are crucial to an
individual's competence.

There is a limit to the skills, attitudes, and dispositions that students can learn
through formal schooling. Therefore, educating them for the 21st century requires
teaching them how to learn on their own. To do so, students need to be aware of how
they learn.

Teachers can develop students’ metacognitive capacity by encouraging them to

explicitly examine how they think. it is also important for students to develop positive
mental models about how we learn, the limits of our learning, and indications of failure.
Students benefit from believing that intelligence and capacity increase with effort (known
as the “incremental” model of intelligence) and that mistakes and failures are
opportunities for self-inquiry and growth rather than indictments of worth or ability.

Learning to learn skills require firstly the acquisition of the fundamental basic skills
such as literacy, numeracy and ICT skills that are necessary for further learning. Building
on these skills, an individual should be able to access, gain, process and assimilate new
knowledge and skills. This requires effective management of one's learning, career and
work patterns, and, in particular, the ability to persevere with learning, to concentrate for
extended periods and to reflect critically on the purposes and aims of learning.
Individuals should be able to dedicate time to learning autonomously and with self-
discipline, but also to work collaboratively as part of the learning process, draw the
benefits from a
heterogeneous group, and to share what they have learnt. Individuals should be able to
organize their own learning, evaluate their own work, and to seek advice, information
and support when appropriate.

A positive attitude includes the motivation and confidence to pursue and succeed at
learning throughout one's life. A problem-solving attitude supports both the learning
process itself and an individual's ability to handle obstacles and change. The desire to
apply prior learning and life experiences and the curiosity to look for opportunities to
learn and apply learning in a variety of life contexts are essential elements of a positive
attitude. (Key Competencies for Lifelong Learning (2006/962/EC))
 6. Address misunderstandings directly

Another well-documented science of learning theory is that learners have many

misunderstandings about how the world really works, and they hold onto these
misconceptions until they have the opportunity to build alternative explanations based on
experience. To overcome misconceptions, learners of any age need to actively construct
new understandings.

There are several ways to counter misunderstandings, including teaching

generative topics deeply, encouraging students to model concepts, and providing explicit
instruction about misunderstandings.

7. Promote teamwork as a process and outcome

Students learn better with peers. There are many ways in which teachers can
design instruction to promote learning with others.

Students can discuss concepts in pairs or groups and share what they understand
with the rest of the class. They can develop arguments and debate them. They can role
play. They can divide up materials about a given topic and then teach others about their
piece. Together, students and the teacher can use a studio format in which several
students work through a given issue, talking through their thinking process while the
others comment.
8. Make full use of technology to support learning

Technology offers the potential to provide students with new ways to develop their
problem solving, critical thinking, and communication skills, transfer them to different
contexts, reflect on their thinking and that of their peers, practice addressing their
misunderstandings, and collaborate with peers all on topics relevant to their lives and
using engaging tools.

The technologies used in many modern classrooms allow teachers to move

beyond the traditional textbook by using main sources, demonstrate abstract concepts
in ways students can grasp, bring the miniscule world to the human eye, simulate
processes that could not be otherwise demonstrated, bring people from distant places
into the classroom, take students, virtually, to almost anywhere, allow students to
collaborate with others in their class, in another state or another country. It gives
teachers the opportunity to assist students, who have the technology in their hands to
reach out to the world, to understand that with that unprecedented power comes
responsibility.

There are also many other examples of web-based forums through which students
and their peers from around the world can interact, share, debate, and learn from each
other.

The nature of the Internet’s countless sources, many of which provide inconsistent
information and contribute substantive source bias, provide students with the opportunity
to learn to assess sources for their reliability and validity. It gives them an opportunity to
practice filtering out information from unreliable sources and synthesizing information
from legitimate ones.

9. Foster students’ creativity

A common definition of creativity is “the cognitive ability to produce novel and

valuable ideas.” Creativity is prized in the economic, civic, and global spheres because it
sparks innovations that can create jobs, address challenges, and motivate social and
individual progress. Like intelligence and learning capacity, creativity is not a fixed
characteristic that people either have or do not have. Rather, it is incremental, such that
students can learn to be more creative. In contrast to the common misconception that
the way to develop creativity is through uncontrolled, let the kids run wild techniques or
only through the arts creative development requires structure and intentionality from
both teachers and students and can be learned through the disciplines.

Creative instruction can be used to promote achievement across content areas,

establish long-term learning (Woolfolk, 2007, as cited in Beghetto & Kaufman, 2010),
encourage creative thinking and problem solving (Treffinger, 2008), and foster
motivation and engagement. Creative thinking lessons build on critical thinking and go
beyond simple recall to consider "what if" possibilities and incorporate real-life problem
solving; they require students to use both divergent and convergent thinking. As
Robinson has noted, "Creativity is not only about generating ideas; it involves making
judgments about them. The creative process includes elaborating on the initial ideas,
testing and refining them and even rejecting them" (2011, Chapter 6).

In a classroom that promotes creativity, students are grouped for specific

purposes, rather than randomly, and are offered controlled product choices that make
sense in the content area. Creative lesson components are not just feel-good activities.
They are activities that directly address critical content, target specific standards, and
require thoughtful products that allow students to show what they know. In the creative
classroom, teachers encourage students to become independent learners by using
strategies such as the gradual release of responsibility model (Fisher & Frey, 2008).

Creativity is not just for low-performing schools; using creative strategies and
techniques helps all students think deeply and improve achievement. Creativity is not
only for disengaged learners; it is motivating for all learners. Creativity is not just for
students in the arts; it is for students in all classrooms in all content areas. Creativity is
not just for high-achieving students; it supports struggling students and those with
special needs as well. Creative thinking is not just for those students who are good at
creative thinking; it is for all students. Promoting creativity in the classroom is not just for
some teachers but for all teachers.
Other relative essential components for effective teaching and learning

Although learning is a complex process, in its most basic form, there are some
processes that must take place in order for learning to occur. The learner must be
attentive, must be able to connect the information to prior knowledge and understanding,
and finally, the learner must draw appropriate conclusions.

Attention: Attention is the fundamental building block for how individuals think,
how teachers create plans and teach each other to apply them, how groups socialize,
and how students transform their lives. Learning occurs when students pay attention in
the discussion, focusing in the subject matters make the learning broad-gauge.

The first thing an instructor must do is to gain the attention of the learner. This is
not a joke or a shout at the beginning of class, this is the need for the learner to see
relevance and meaning in learning the information being presented. This relevance and
meaning must go beyond taking and passing the course for degree completion. The
learner must be able to personally connect course content in meaningful and relevant
ways. The instructor must be able to convince students that the effort they put forth in
learning the course material will be worthwhile. Often, topics can be approached by
presenting a real
life scenario or problem for which the information can be utilized to solve the problem.

Processing Information: Just because learners must process new information

repeatedly, in a variety of ways, before they can master it, instruction should include a
mixture of written words, visuals, audio, manipulative, action, and practice with the
content that students are expected to master. It is best to focus the instruction on a few
major concepts that are learned deeply rather than teaching many concepts superficially.
All learners will compare new information with previous experiences and knowledge.
Effective instructors will incorporate this into learning activities by giving the students an
opportunity to reflect, compare, and question the new information. Small group
discussions are effective for giving learners the opportunity to draw from past experience
and knowledge and to make links to the new information being presented.
Conclusions and Understanding: All learners have their own unique perspective
and experiences, and this affects what knowledge they are able to retain and use. The
instructor’s role is to move learners through the new material in an orderly and organized
manner, giving them classroom opportunities to practice new skills and to draw their own
conclusions. Learners experiment with and/or test new information before deciding if it is
useful to them enough to make the effort to learn it. When instructors develop learning
activities that encourage students to experiment and use information to draw their own
conclusions, students see the relevance in learning the material.

APPLICATION:

Now for application of what you have learned, write your preparation and a
scenario where you will assume as teacher and your about to deliver the lesson to your
students. Show your way on how to be an effective teacher for the 21 st century learners.
Use A4 bond paper, Arial 12-point font with 1.5 spacing and 1-inch margin on all sides
(Refer to the syllabus for the rubric).

VII. REFLECTION/ANALYSIS Worksheet 1.2B (Refer to Google Classroom)

The statements below are the nine science of learning in the 21 st century teaching
and learning context, complete the statements grounded on the previous discussion:

Make it relevant …

Teach through the disciplines …

Simultaneously develop lower and higher order thinking skills …

Encourage transfer of learning …

Teach students to learn how to learn …

Address misunderstandings directly …

Promote teamwork as a process and outcome …

Make full use of technology to support learning …

Foster students’ creativity …